Matthew Spurgeon founded The Bradfield Party to promote the southward flow of water from the Burdekin River near Townsville.

Its name refers to engineer John Bradfield who in 1938 proposed directing water from Queensland coastal rivers inland to dry areas such as Lake Eyre.

Mr Spurgeon, who works in finance and lives at Yea at the southern end of the federal seat of Indi, plans to stand at the next national election for his party.

"I will be running, whether that's in the lower house or the upper house is yet to be determined," Mr Spurgeon said.

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"We're aiming to stand for a couple of senate seats in every state.

"(In the lower house) there will be a couple of prominent candidates around the traps and especially through the irrigation districts.

"If we can get five to 10 per cent of the primary vote that sends a huge message to the government and the prime minister that they need to look seriously at this project."

Mr Spurgeon formed the party after discussing the Bradfield Scheme with Central Queensland University researcher David Stockwell.

Dr Stockwell has written an ebook The New Bradfield Scheme with the subtitle of The new $50 Billion plan to transform inland Queensland into an irrigation empire while saving the Great Barrier Reef.

Mr Spurgeon says Dr Stockwell's plan is different to previous versions of the Bradfield Scheme because it's based on a gravity fed route derived from satellite navigation done in recent years.

The first stage would see water travel from a dam on the Burdekin River to St George in western Queensland and in the second phase water would be channelled through NSW to Deniliquin.

Dr Stockwell estimates 2000 gigalitres could be put into the Murray Darling Basin each year through his proposal.

He points to bonds, mining royalties, water sales and land grants as potential funding options.